Andor Costume Designer and Emmy Nominee Michael Wilkinson Weaves Character into the Fabric of Season 2

“We wanted to bring across the idea of a very old culture that was incredibly ritualized and steeped in traditions that had a formality to it,” Wilkinson says. “In a way, we looked at Japanese and Korean cultures. We established a strong palette of beautiful neutral colors and metallic fabrics. Davo and [his wife] Runai Sculdun are Chandrilan, like Mon Mothma, but they represent ‘new money’ showy, a bit gauche and over-the-top, keen to show their wealth. They don’t have the quiet sophistication of Mon Mothma’s old-money family.”

For Wilkinson, one of the major considerations informing the aesthetics was the question of translating the character journey of Mothma into fabric.

“We had about 200 extras, and I wanted each of them to have a sense of their own individual personality within the culture,” he says. “We meet Mon's assistant, Erskin Semaj, whose outfits are meant to harmonize with Mon's clothing. [But generally] the way that the people dressed there was important, because it [speaks to] Mon Mothma being trapped in this very formal way of dressing. We know she has this incredible poise and elegance. But fighting underneath that is the turmoil, completely in the background, of funding the [rebellion] and putting her whole family — all of her loved ones — at risk,” he says. “I wanted her to feel restricted and bound by her clothing [as a] key to the whole culture.”

During the course of the story arc, Mothma’s relationship with her daughter fully crumbles. We see Mon give her daughter the option of abandoning the traditions that a young Mothma herself had embraced. But Leida holds firm. To pile on, Mothma learns that a childhood friend of hers, Tay Kolma, who knows of her rebellious activities, is in an emotionally compromised state. Her ally at the wedding, rebel architect Luthen Rael, who also leads a double life, strongly implies that Mothma’s friend must die, and Mothma relents. A moment that showrunner Tony Gilroy designed to force blood onto Mothma’s hands, as she had until this point largely been allowed to deal with the violence of the rebellion in abstract.

Mothma tries to push the horrifying truths away, but each new heartbreak pushes her to the brink. By the end of the story arc, she can hardly keep it in any longer. Each pang of guilt stacks until it all shatters.

“The culmination of the wedding is this big dance sequence,” Wilkinson says. “Everyone breaks away from the restraint of Chandrila, and sort of lets their hair down, it becomes a swirl of fabric and movement. So every [decision we made] was sort of geared towards that.

“Chandrilan costumes were really created to move,” he continues. “We hit upon this idea of pleating and specific fabrics that would really create interesting silhouettes. Pleating became integral to the design of all Chandrilan costumes as something that would move beautifully in dance. [We focused on] pieces that could be lifted up and attached to the wrists so when people waved their arms in the air, the fabric would be drawn up and create interesting shapes for the camera.”

In one of the most memorable visuals of the season, we see Mothma dance to a blaring mix of Niamos!, interspliced with scenes of fallout happening across the story.

“Next to her strength, Mothma has vulnerability because of her situation. So her jewelry, the draped chains and things like that, tremble when she moves — the pleated silk does the same,” Wilkinson says. “I worked with an amazing company in London that does all different types of pleating. I think I used every single type of pleating that they do. Box, knife, sunray, antique pleating — in all types and scales. We created fabrics that were quite unusual. They weren’t necessarily fabrics that we are familiar with, and we combined them with other interesting fabrics that my incredible sourcing team had brought in from all different corners of the globe. Sheer fabrics, metallics, fibers that would glow and glisten with a magical quality. I worked hard on showing shape and textures that would be beautiful for the camera to shoot — things that would feel like they're restricting Mon. But then suddenly, let go. So there’s always a sense of vulnerability that goes with the strength and the poise of Chandrilan costumes.”

While much can and has been said of the dialogue and music in this section of the story, the shot composition, acting, and costumes communicate much of the emotional journey for the character through visuals alone.

“It was one of the real joys of this design process, having these two seasons working with Genevieve O’Reilly,” Wilkinson says. “[We had] wonderful fittings, exploring exactly who Mothma was and how we could show that to the audience through her clothing. And Genevieve is such an intelligent, insightful, and intuitive actor. So, it was a wonderful process to explore with her. A dramatic collar and strong necklace using her signature ‘draped chain’ — a motif that I use a lot on her costumes — inspired by the “chain of office” from her Rogue One costume tie her different looks together.”

They are the Ghor

In counterbalance to the joy of the wedding festivities, this season’s focus on Ghorman allowed Wilkinson to develop a visual language for an entire society built around the business of fabrics and weaving. While we get to know the residents of Ghorman over several episodes, Episode 8 “Who Are You?” sees the crescendo of the Ghorman storyline with the massacre at the town square in Palmo. Knowing the weight of the events that would take place, Wilkinson’s team set about carefully crafting even minor details to make sure the audience felt the gravity of what unfolded on screen.